Social Housing - The Glamour

'There is one more place I can think of to try, then I am going to give up'. Two hours wandering around the estate and my Neighbourhood Manager was ready to throw in the towel. We had checked playgrounds and walkways, the paved areas by the lake. There had been some traces but no more than that. Our hunt for evidence of dog fouling had failed to come up with the goods.

In a survey our residents told us that they wanted us to do something about dog nuisance. We enshrined this in our neighbourhood strategy and have a range for graphic posters to ram home the message. ( I did ban the use of a poster showing a young child eating a chocolate ice cream baring the legend 'children will put anything in their mouths').

To be honest the team were less than thrilled to know that dog mess was going to be a key objective for 2013, now out on the estate we couldn't bloody find any! Never mind back to focus on illicit rubbish dumping, inconsiderate disposal of cigarette ends and noisy neighbours. The romance, the glamour. 

Police Questioning - Helping with enquiries

Pick pocketing is a nasty crime, and one that I assume thrives in crowded places. It is reassuring to read that Police in Wales are tackling it. I was reading this morning that people turning up to a gig by The Vaccines were being refused entry if they could not name the bands lead singer. According to the story this did lead  to some holding an £18 ticket being turned away. This may sound bizarre but it is not unique.
I encountered this slightly Heath Robinson approach to security in 1996. Palace were playing Charlton in the Play-offs. I got out of the train at Norwood Junction and emerged to see a large number of Police.
One pointing at me barked 'You, stand over there. On that line'. I was puzzled but stood on the bit of yellow line as ordered.
'Can I see your ticket'. In the post Hillsborough world I kind of got that they wouldn't welcome loads of people arriving without tickets but I don't like being ordered about and felt a bit self conscious. Crowds were passing and staring at me, or that is what it felt like.
Then the Palace trivia quiz started.
'Who's the Palace goal keeper?' Easy enough, 'Nigel Martyn'
But that was just for starters, he  soon upped the ante. 'Who was Arthur Waite' My entry to the game now hinged on being familiar with who was the club's Chairman 25 years ago. I bumbled out some vaguely correct answer. Grudgingly satisfied the Officer allowed me to go to the game.

Happy Man Pig

Music is so easy to get hold of now. In the early 80's John Peel might play something by a German punk band, and  it would start a journey through the racks for  London's more adventurous record shops, or a mail order purchase. Now most tunes are just a couple of clicks away. Even if I am not completely certain it is the right song I can just listen to an ITunes sample. Driving home tonight I was listening to Happy Man Pig by Sparklehorse. This was probably the last song I really had to work hard to track down.

I had bought a mountain biking DVD. It turned out to have a cracking soundtrack and helpfully told you the tracks being played. But there was a promo for another DVD called Earthed or something similar. Over the images of people falling off mountains on bikes this incredible song was playing. No vocal, just yearning and driving music. It worked beautifully with the images on the screen. I wanted that song but had no idea who it was by. I scoured the DVD for a clue but it was keeping its secrets.

Now there are only so many mtb DVDs a man needs. But I wanted this song so much I was willing to buy Earthed on the basis that it might either play the bloody song in full or tell me who it was by. It took me a while but I finally tracked it down. I watched the DVD I was poised for the song. The soundtrack was great but the bloody song was not materialising. Then finally  it was there , roaring into view. But still nothing to give me a clue who it was by. Then right at the end  I spotted there was a track listing.

By process of elimination I worked out it was Happy Man by Sparklehorse, and bounced away to iTunes to make my purchase. Even this was not the full story. I down loaded the track from the Good Morning Spider album. As any Sparklehorse fan with know this is the version Smith deliberately half obliterated with static. I have come to love this version in all its eccentricity but at the time I just wanted it straight. After more faffing I finally tracked down the version I wanted. If felt that same elation I could recall from being 14 or 15 coming home with my prize purchased from Virgin, or HMV.

I had never heard the lyrics until that point and had never really paid much attention to Sparklehorse, but these surreal words just seemed perfect with the din being made. 'Woke up in a horse's stomach one foggy morning, its eyes were crazy as it crashed into the cemetery gate' or something like that.  And that yearning cry of ' All I wanna be is a happy man'.

I was going through a painful time, and there was something about this song that seemed to sum up where I was. It became in sense my battle hymn as I tried to fight my way out of the corner I was in. I kind of clung to it like a raft. That time is passed now.

Listening to the song today was bitter sweet. If pressed as to my favourite song ever it would certainly be on the shortlist. But it is so glued in my memory to that difficult time I cannot simply enjoy it. It carries echoes of emotions I am glad I no longer feel and if I am honest not desperate to be reminded of.

Great Gatsby

Thanks to the @waterstonescroy book group I have recently read Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby something I had avoided for many years. I went back to a girlfriend I had in my early 20's. She liked to tell how much she liked and knew of American fiction and films, and if I am being honest the interest was genuine. She loved both this book and the Robert Redford film version. 

I disliked the film and shunned the novel because I disliked what seemed to attract her. She seemed to be attracted to the world it portrayed, she loved the clothes and the idea of this world filled with parties. From what I could see it was a lot of disagreeable rich Americans being disagreeable. 

When it got chosen for the book group I did a bit of an inner groan, partly at the thought of having to read the book, but mostly recalling the less successful parts of that relationship. But hey, the book is pretty short.

What I discovered was a beautifully written story where the shimmering surface is only sunlight on the dark lake. I realised that I had been wrong. The book may be about a superficial world but that does not make it frivolous. The way the ugliness of the characters keeps bursting through that surface of style is incredibly powerful.

That people are holding Gatsby parties with the new film coming out is beyond satire.

Mates? We're strangers

I was about 5 miles from the end of the SFA sportive, in a group with a couple of guys from the same large cycling club. One of them clearly thought we were soft tapping and put the hammer down. I kept him in sight but the other guy got dropped. Chatting at the finish he came over to wish me well. I said
'I just saw your Mate go and tried to stay with him.'
'Oh him, I don't know him.'
It struck me that there are benefits in being part of a big club but when you don't even know your team mates in an event seems a bit sad.

Genesis and the Benefits Cap

Very strange story about a letter Genesis Housing sent to its tenants in Haringey. From a housing angle to story is so screwy I was looking for the punch line to the joke. Ok for the uninitiated. The Government is introducing a benefits cap of £26k per year including rent. This measure is being trialled in a number of areas including Haringey where Genesis has stock.
What has blown up is that it appears somebody at Genesis decided to send what is being described as an 'eviction notice' to its tenants. This letter warms them that they will 'take action to terminate our lease.' if they do not come up with a defence the court can evict in 14 days....
Now a few basics. The use of language is odd. The term lease is not normally used for social housings lettings. It would be the tenancy. Secondly we would issue a notice of seeking possession and ask the court for possession order, not an eviction notice. To gain possession we would require grounds, such as significant rent arrears, it cannot be a preemptive strike.
So whoever wrote this letter seems to have a very individual take on housing law.
The strangeness continued with Genesis initially denying it had sent the letter then trying to explain it away. But Genesis will have a trained communications team and access to the best advice available, as well as having expert staff of its own. It is unbelievable that this was some corporately sanctioned approach. So How did this letter go out? This is my guess what happened. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and today there is some very junior member of staff who is In the deep doodoo. An Income Officer's patch will typically be 1000 units, probably a number akin to the stock they have in Haringey. Concerned about the impact that the cap will have on their arrears figures they have decided to use initiative. A mail merge later and the deed is done. Sadly their enthusiasm is not matched by either their wisdom or competence. The result, egg on the face for Genesis in the national press and a whole batch of tenants needlessly worried.
There but for the grace of God......

Sherpas

I have never aspired to be a mountaineer, I don't have the head for heights. But Hilary and Tenzing's conquering of Everest in 1953 is one of those stories that loomed large. When Chris Bonnington led an expedition there in the 70's I remember it being reported as news. In most of the stories the Sherpas were portrayed as noble, strong and silent. That said even when Hilary and Tenzing got there the question of who was actually the first one up became a political question.

But the story of a mob of angry Sherpas driving westerners away with rocks and knives still took me by complete surprise. I would suspect that this will turnout to be a bad outcome for all concerned. Clearly when the presence of western tour companies has become so great that the locals feel the need to pick up rocks we must be a long way from the romantic picture painted 60 years ago. I would note that in reporting the story everyone seems to have had their say apart from the Sherpas themselves.